Buspar

I was reading some articles on Buspar. Looking for something to help with the most common side affect with Lexapro (my med) and most of the other meds. Sexual dysfunction. I am a female and cant get aroused at all now or have an orgasm. Pdoc mentioned ritalin to conteract that. Do not like anything I read about ritalin. Tried wellbutrin but was way to agitated and bitchy. Is there any help with my sex life while on lexapro?
Thanks

>reading some articles on Buspar. Looking for something to help with the most common side affect with Lexapro (my med) and most of the other meds.
>sexual dysfunction

I sympathize with the sexual problems of SSRIs. I don't have arousal problems on Prozac, but always did on Zoloft and Paxil.

Difficulty reaching orgasm and anorgasmia are common for women on SSRIs, probably because you've got too much serotonin around and it's hitting the wrong serotonin receptors (serotonin inhibits orgasm). This is really a threshhold issue -- the hill you have to climb is just so much higher (like Mt. Everest some days?). Lexapro especially is very potent and the most selective to serotonin. You might want to talk to the doc about trying a different SSRI to see if that helps. Sometimes a switch makes a big difference.

Loss of libido is a different problem, and it can be very hard to sort out the loss of libido that comes from your depression or other issues from the loss due to the meds themselves. Mental unwellness of any variety often equals loss of interest in sex. But, yes, it certainly can be caused by the meds themselves. You can think about whether the lack of interest preceeded the Lexapro, or if it's been there for a while, to see if there seems to be a clear link between the med and the symptom.

I recently added BuSpar to my sort-of-working Prozac as an augmententation for my apparently tx-resisting depression. I also wanted to see if the BuSpar would reverse my SSRI-associated teeth grinding and difficulty with orgasm.

Here's my experience so far. I had one week of the BuSpar at 15mg/day, then another week at 20mg/day. I've now been at 40mg/day for just over a week (which should be long enough to reach steady state). My pdoc claims he sometimes goes as high as 80-100mg/day, so theoretically I could still go up.

The BuSpar does NOT seem to be helping with the tooth grinding so far.

However, I do think the BuSpar is helping a bit with the depression, and also helping somewhat with making it easier to reach orgasm, especially now at 40 mg/day. I have also been surprised that it seems to be helping quite a lot for my anxiety. (Yes, I know that is what it's normally used for, but I had previously read a lot of stuff that made me think the BuSpar would not do much for the anxiety. I've never taken benzos, and BuSpar apparently works better with no hx of benzo use. Maybe that is why it seems to work so much better for me than it did for others I've read about).

One nice thing about BuSpar is that it's not causing any NEW problems for me. I agree with Jarod's entry on BuSpar at the main crazymeds site in that it's not too likely to cause a lot of icky side effects compared to many other options.

Cryptoheptadine (Periactin) is an antihistamine with some anti-serotonin properties that can be taken before sexual activity and may reverse anorgasmia. If you can stay awake on it. Maybe. It's probably worth a try once or twice, as it's taken sort of like //vi@gr@// -- just in advance.

Speaking of //vi@gr@//, if you can get your doc to give it to you and you can afford it, maybe it's worth one or two tries also. Yes, I understand that you are a female, but //vi@gr@// sends extra blood to the region of interest in women, just as it does in men. It's possible it could be helpful. I haven't gotten up the nerve to ask my pdoc for it, but lots of women have used it with success.

I was reading some articles on Buspar. Looking for something to help with the most common side affect with Lexapro (my med) and most of the other meds. Sexual dysfunction. I am a female and cant get aroused at all now or have an orgasm. Pdoc mentioned ritalin to conteract that. Do not like anything I read about ritalin. Tried wellbutrin but was way to agitated and bitchy. Is there any help with my sex life while on lexapro?Thanks

You say you do not like anything you've read about ritalin. What exactly don't you like? The nice thing about the ritalin is that you'd know if it worked the first day you took it, and if you wanted to you could just take it as needed for sexual activity, assuming that it works of course.

I was reading some articles on Buspar. Looking for something to help with the most common side affect with Lexapro (my med) and most of the other meds. Sexual dysfunction. I am a female and cant get aroused at all now or have an orgasm. Pdoc mentioned ritalin to conteract that. Do not like anything I read about ritalin. Tried wellbutrin but was way to agitated and bitchy. Is there any help with my sex life while on lexapro?Thanks

You say you do not like anything you've read about ritalin. What exactly don't you like? The nice thing about the ritalin is that you'd know if it worked the first day you took it, and if you wanted to you could just take it as needed for sexual activity, assuming that it works of course.

That's an excellent point about the Ritalin -- you wouldn't need to take it continually, making it another one that is easy enough to try out.

I was reading some articles on Buspar. Looking for something to help with the most common side affect with Lexapro (my med) and most of the other meds. Sexual dysfunction. I am a female and cant get aroused at all now or have an orgasm. Pdoc mentioned ritalin to conteract that. Do not like anything I read about ritalin. Tried wellbutrin but was way to agitated and bitchy. Is there any help with my sex life while on lexapro?Thanks

You say you do not like anything you've read about ritalin. What exactly don't you like? The nice thing about the ritalin is that you'd know if it worked the first day you took it, and if you wanted to you could just take it as needed for sexual activity, assuming that it works of course.

That's an excellent point about the Ritalin -- you wouldn't need to take it continually, making it another one that is easy enough to try out.

Nicole

Hi: Just wondered if you're still taking the Buspar with the Prozac,etc. If so, does it work well for you? I'm hoping to find something that I can take with Prozac that will keep the "inner agitation" away.

I was reading some articles on Buspar. Looking for something to help with the most common side affect with Lexapro (my med) and most of the other meds. Sexual dysfunction. I am a female and cant get aroused at all now or have an orgasm. Pdoc mentioned ritalin to conteract that. Do not like anything I read about ritalin. Tried wellbutrin but was way to agitated and bitchy. Is there any help with my sex life while on lexapro?Thanks

What are your main issues? Depression, or anxiety?

If you just have anxiety then BuSpar is great because it'll attack your axiety without having the nasty SSRI side-effects.

If it's for depression, then there is some research indicating that the SSRI+BuSpar combo makes the SSRI more effective.

The only meds that usually combat the SSRI's Sexual Side-effects are BuSpar or Wellbutrin augmentation. You said you took Wellbutrin and that it was too energizing, but maybe if you combined it with Lexapro the side-effects of each would cancel out. That is a very common combination and used to work great for me back in the day before things pooped out.

SSRIs have ruined me sexually......even after I've stopped them. I used to get erections easily but now I feel like an 80 year-old in a 23 year-old's body. Life is grand!

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I've figured it out
There is no doubt I need some help
Can you try to save me from myself?
-Enchant "Defenseless"

There is a simple alternative: drinking lots of strong coffee irregularly. This is a very effective aphrodisiac, but it only works when you stop drinking coffee daily. Instead of coffee, you can use guarana (containing caffeine), which might work even better but will stay in your blood longer.

I combine Prozac (5-10mg a day) with Buspar (25-30mg a day). I have no idea if Buspar helps with sexual problems. It does seem to help with anxiety, even though I use benzo's every now and then.

Karen: Buspar isn't very likely to help with inner agitation caused by Prozac, since it helps Prozac elevate noradrenaline levels even more, which is likely to cause anxiety {EDIT: I mean inner agitation] rather than to lessen it. So Buspar makes Prozac even more stimulating.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God?this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is?His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. - Helen Keller

If you just have anxiety then BuSpar is great because it'll attack your axiety without having the nasty SSRI side-effects.

If it's for depression, then there is some research indicating that the SSRI+BuSpar combo makes the SSRI more effective.

Well, maybe. BuSpar + SSRI did nothing for my anxiety or my depression, and it made me almost pass out several times (hence I stopped taking it). I know others for which this is true. I'd hesitate to make blanket statements about its efficacy.

well here's a blanket statement. if u knew more about buspar and what it is, you'd realize its not so bad. for some people their general attitude and behavior goes against a drug working for them-- the reason why everyone's different.

I did feel i was going to pass out a few times on this drug, but like most drugs this overall feeling diminished over time, as my body acclimated to the drug. just like people that have panic attacks dont usually like coffee, the same goes for this drug.